Meatless Surprise Wrapped in Mystery

Churchill described Russia’s actions as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

Almost fifty years before the brilliant British statesman issued his famous phrase, a Russian artist Sergei Malyutin had a similar idea. Tzar Nicholas II, who ascended the Russian throne in 1894, promoted Russian culture, arts, and crafts. Granted, in a way it was an attempt to dissuade public resentment of his German wife. However, the Tzar himself had a hobby to which he would dedicate most of his time and attention – woodcarving. The monarch’s hobby inspired so-called “Russian style” in arts, specifically focused on the old-fashioned village children’s toys. The royal family sponsored a workshop called “Children’s Nurturing” which created dolls dressed in regional Russian national costumes. It is in this workshop that Malyutin conceived the idea of a nestling doll that took the world by a storm and became a symbol and epitome of Russia.

The first Matryoshka doll was carved by a doll-master Zvyozdochkin following Malyutin’s sketches. It was given a quintessential old Russian name: Matryoshka is a diminutive from Matryona, a revered name stemming from a root mater’ – mother, a healthy, happy, full-figured symbol of motherhood and fertility. Today you can find matryoshka dolls looking like presidents, rock starts, and cartoon characters. Purists claim that those are “not real,” but actually, as long as there are at least three dolls concealed inside each other, you get an authentic expression of the Russian national character: “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

We are starting with a wrapper – Spring Roll Wrappers, to be specific. We are going to create a mystery to surround a riddle. We will boil it, and mix it, and bake it, and serve it as a gift-wrapped bundle, and then…

… let’s see what we find inside! We will need some aquafaba, if we don’t want to use eggs, and a meat substitute of your choice, if you don’t want to use ground turkey or lean ground beef.

First, we need to peel and boil a couple of sweet potatoes. That’ll take about twenty minutes. When they are ready, drain and mash them up. Let them rest for now.

While your potatoes are cooking, you need to soak a couple of slices of bread (I always have leftovers of spelt challah to use for various purposes) in soy or any other non-dairy milk. Mash it up in a separate bowl.

Beef-less Ground is my favorite meat substitute, but feel free to use whatever you prefer, or go all out and use ground turkey or lean beef. Combine it with mashed soaked bread.

Throw in some diced onion and garlic, grated carrots, chopped fresh parsley, whisked aquafaba or eggs, season it with salt and pepper, and mix it all up. Remember, your mashed sweet potatoes are not a part of this mix; they are still resting.

Now, mist your muffin form with oil and arrange those spring roll wrappers there instead of muffins. Fill them with meatless (or ground meat) mix, top with mashed sweet potato, and close the corners. Make sure you seal your bundles well. Mist them with oil and send them to the oven, preheated to 350 F. Meanwhile, watch some live “matryoshkas” dance – the world famous ensemble “Beriozka.”

It seems we have a little problem! The dance is over, but your surprise still needs some more time in the oven, about fifteen minutes. Let’s make a nutritious green treat to compliment it!

Take a bunch of kale, cut the stems away, and tear it into smaller pieces, about 1 inch squares. Place them into a microwaveable dish.

Mix in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle a little salt. I also sprinkle a pinch of sumac, for lemony taste, but mostly for color. Microwave it uncovered for three or four minutes, depending on your microwave, until the chips are thoroughly dry and crisp.

By this time your Meatless Surprises should be ready, and you can serve these precious crispy bundles with juicy filling on a bed of crispy kale chips. A riddle wrapped in a mystery could be both pretty and delicious!

Yes, aren’t they amazing? Beriozka is the name of the dance troupe, not the dance itself, though, but the gliding is their hallmark; that’s how they move in all their dances. Thank you for your kind comment – I am so glad you like it!

You find the cutest videos, Dolly! The dancing doll ending with the audience pouring into the lobby was especially clever. And THEN that adorable “surprise” kitten. Even I, highly allergic to cats, could never resist taking that little baby in.

The “Russian Rockettes” – floating rather than high kicking – was a real treat. Beriozka was a brand new experience for me. I always learn something new when I visit your blog – and that’s not even considering the new taste treats you always share. I am especially eager to try those “kale chips.”

Thank you! Beriozka is famous for that gliding step; it is unique to them. Also, if you notice, the dancers look very much alike and have that frozen doll-like smile on their faces. They are chosen for that look and trained to hold the smile.
Kale chips have become a staple for us; I make them every day now. Try them – you’ll like them, I am sure!

I love your history lessons, along with your recipes!!
My Mama has some Russian nesting dolls, that she bought while there on a missions trip. PP loves to play with them!
I published my empty house, where;s my cake??

From the age of 4 till she was 18, my daughter took dance lessons, mainly ballet and jazz. But one year she also took part in a group competition of Russian folklore dancing… and they won first prize! Your video brought this happy memory back to me, thank you!
And thank you also for sharing a meatless recipe with us.

Stop IT!! That was so interesting… like all other ignorami I had assumed the Matroyska were a more ancient craft. No matter … now I know the truth and I think it is rather more interesting than the ephemera in my bird brain. I normally make a rule never to knowingly eat a dish with surprise in its name but this sounds too delicious to shun on tenuous grounds. I’m in!

Well, the Tzar’s idea was to collect and rejuvenate ancient folk crafts, so even though Matryoshka is a creation of professionals, it is just as much based of folk art as Tchaikovsky’s or Borodin’s music on folk melodies, so you are not that far off. Anyway, the way I look at it, you stick any filling you like into those wraps, seal them, bake them, and voila! you have

I’ve already read, “liked” and commented under this one, Dolly, but I jumped back over from your latest post to copy the directions for kale chips into a text file to print to add to my recipe box (and thank you again for including links to a couple of my posts in that one).

Tink can’t have garlic and I adore it – so the pickled stems from the other post will be ALL for me. 🙂
xx,
mgh

I keep accusing Tink of being simply a tummy with fur! He LOVES anything that I eat, guys – and as long as he doesn’t beg at the table he is usually rewarded.

Not to worry — I google “can dogs eat . . .” to make sure first, but he has always gotten little bits of broccoli and other veggies, many fruits, etc. as healthy training treats (since he was a tiny pup back with his brothers and sisters). Not garlic or onion, tho’ – and I take his out before I add salt, pepper or other spices to mine.

He ADORES sweet potato – so I “dehydrate” for him in the oven (and keep frozen or in the ‘fridge since there are no preservatives, like in the ones normally found for sale). Saves me money as it gets more nutrition into that tummy!

NO chocolate, Dolly – horrible for dogs, so I get all of that too. 🙂
xx,
mgh

I used to have dogs, too, so I know about chocolate and spicy foods, but I remember carefully taking chicken meat off the bones and shredding it for my toddler son and his puppy Benji on the theory that a puppy could, G-d forbid, get a bone stuck in his throat, and then Benji gobbled up an ENTIRE boiled chicken, bones and all, that my grandmother arranged on a tray to cool off! Benji was a sky terrier, with a perpetually innocent expression on his face, like,- “Chicken? What chicken? I haven’t seen any chicken! Was there chicken here? I don’t know!”
Incidentally, if sweet potatoes are spiralized and baked, they make fantastic chips, both for you and Tink.

Ah, I neglected to mention that the tray was not on the counter but set up on a low table on the balcony, with the door shut, but devious sneaky Benji managed to get it open.
I think I should post that recipe for sweet potato chips, now that I think about it.